Sociètè de transport de Montréal to add 300 to 400 bus departures

MONTREAL - Public-transit ridership is booming and the Société de transport de Montréal will add 300 to 400 new weekday bus departures in September to attract even more riders, The Gazette has learned.

The 2010 figure – a 1.5-per-cent increase over 2009 (382.8 million) – is shy of a Montreal record. In the 1940s, bus and tramway ridership was more than 390 million.

The first quarter of 2011 shows the growth continuing. Ridership rose by 3.1 per cent, compared to the same period last year, Rotrand said.

The métro set a single-day passenger record Feb. 3, welcoming 937,000 people. Combined bus and métro ridership marked a one-day record March 24 – 1.4 million rides.

The 747 Express bus, linking downtown to Trudeau Airport, is expected to serve its one millionth rider in May. The service was launched in March 2010.

External factors such as bad weather, traffic caused by road construction and rising fuel prices are making transit more attractive. Rotrand said ridership gains are also due to significant improvements to bus service last year.

He cited the creation of the 10-Minute Max Network (31 routes on which buses run at least every 10 minutes between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. weekdays), extra service on express and métro-bus routes, and the addition of articulated buses on some lines.

“It’s a clarion call to politicians at all levels that if you give them the service, the riders will come and that continued support of public transit is important and necessary,” Rotrand said.

On Sept. 6, the STM will make more “major improvements” to bus service, adding departures on about 40 of its heaviest-travelled lines.

“In some cases it will be rush hour but in many cases it’s off-peak to ensure that there isn’t crowding on buses, and people have a better chance of getting a seat,” Rotrand said. “Some lines will see a significant number of additional departures.”

The list of affected routes has not been finalized but it will include the 105 bus along Sherbrooke St. in Notre Dame de Grâce, a crowded line despite the fact that it already runs up to every three minutes weekdays at rush hour, he said.

“On this particular line, every time we add service instead of easing crowding, it attracts more riders, which is a sign of success,” he said.

The 105 will see about 10 new departures per day.

Some 105 users who work at Concordia University are collecting names on an online petition and a Facebook page, asking the STM to boost service between Vendôme and Loyola Campus.

Khoba Sysavane, one of the petitioners, said the closing of the nearby Villa Maria métro station June 6 to Sept. 5 for repairs will worsen the situation on the 105 because more travellers will take the bus at Vendôme.

“I have great concerns that this already struggling bus route will burst at the seams this summer,” Sysavane said, adding the problem will grow even worse when the adjacent Glen campus of the McGill University Health Centre opens in 2014.

By the end of 2011, the STM will have boosted bus service across its network by 16 per cent compared with Jan. 1, 2007. The STM target was to increase bus and métro ridership by eight per cent over that period. “We are on track to significantly surpass that,” Rotrand said.

For a full year, the STM improvements that begin in September will cost $9.7 million and represent 110,000 additional hours of service.

By the end of 2011, the STM will have spent $34 million in extra bus service this year, including shuttles for seniors, additional buses on 10-Minute Max lines and extra service on some lines that serve West Island commuter train stations, Rotrand said.

The STM has an ambitious plan to increase ridership by another 40 per cent – to reach 540 million rides – by 2020.

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